Friday, February 03, 2006

THAT'S LIFE

I was hanging out at the pharmacy this morning, as I like to do on Friday mornings, and I noticed an advertisement on the counter. It asked I felt distracted. Trouble focusing? Restless? Disorganized? Yes, yes, yes and yes.

Then it suggested I may have something called Adult ADD.

Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. Can you believe that shit? And guess what…there’s a drug to help with it! Can you imagine the luck??

There’s another name for Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. It’s called LIFE.

Listen…there’s a lot of shit going on in the world and trying to keep track of it all is not easy. All the gadgets and devices and technology invented to make our lives easier really only make things more complicated by giving us more things to keep track of.

Remember how nice it used to be before cell phones? If someone needed to reach you, they called you at home and left a fucking message. Today, everyone you know has direct access to your person at all times. And the shit you have to pay for now? There are cable bills, Internet cable bills, cell phone bills, and countless other niche services out there nickling and diming us to death. There’s IPOD and Blackberry and BlueTooth – and warranties and rebates to keep on top of for all of that shit. Pagers and PDA’s and phones that play video. Plasma televisions, LCD monitors, DVD recorders. And technology changes so frequently you’re always upgrading something to keep up with the times. A new television. A new computer. A new MP3 player. A new digital camera. A new car. A new satellite radio. How many big-ticket electronics did you buy over the past couple years? Growing up I had a single Atari 2600 system, television was FREE, and I shared a telephone with three other people. We didn't even have an answering machine until the mid-80's, so if nobody was home, you had to call back. Those were the days. People actually had time to spend and money to save.

Shit ain’t like that today. Folks are always on the go. Gotta stay connected. And with so much information at our disposal, it’s no wonder we feel overwhelmed. It’s not Adult Attention Deficit Disorder...it’s Busy Fucking World Disorder. More shit to buy = more shit to keep track of = less time for family = less money in the bank = A.D.D.

I’d like to update the classic Hasbro board game “The Game of Life” to be relevant to the times. There’d be plenty of new squares out there:

2 comments:

It is true that most people do have Attention Deficit Traits and yes our modern society does contribute to those traits. But Adult ADD is real and those with it really do suffer.

I'm sure the medication that you saw advertised was Strattera which is made by Ely Lily. They have gone a bit over board with the marketing of the medication. But don't worry #1 is doesn't work very well and #2 it doesn't have the potential for addiction like other medications.

Oh, I don't doubt that there exist chemical imbalances that can cause real suffering. I know this firsthand. And I'm not going to pull a Cruise by suggesting all of our mental woes can be countered with a healthier diet and exercise. Surely, some people derive some benefit from taking some drugs. My issue is, indeed, with the marketing of these drugs. Instead of letting doctors test people and determine clinically whether or not pharmaceutical intervention is necessary, the drug companies rely heavily upon a pull-through marketing strategy. They try to make their products appeal to the broadest base possible so patients come to their doctors asking for them by name. Indeed - that is the call to action for virtually every prescription-based medication out there: "Ask your doctor about..."

But to get people hooked on the feeling that drugs are the answer, they have to first convince people they are suffering from something. Sure, a handful of people out there likely have difficulty focusing - and it probably drives them apeshit. But most people have varying degrees of difficulty focusing in general, so to paint this, or any, illness with such a broad stroke does a disservice to state our nation's mental health.

It would not be the worst thing in the world if pharmacy ads were completely out of the mainstream media. Let the folks who diagnose these things make informed recommendations on how to treat the symptoms that plague us...